USA Dot Com is a blog covering politics and government from a conservative Christian perspective. Verne Strickland is a 50-year veteran of investigative journalism. This blog offers a take-no-prisoners style with a modicum of biting satire. Verne and his wife of 55 years, Durrene, live in Wilmington, NC.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Final NC redistricting map in works. Pantano encouraged by chances in a new 13th District

This draft of NC district map is said to be a possible version which might emerge from N.C. Redistricting Committee within a few weeks. Source Photo

Verne Strickland Blogmaster USA DOT COM May 23, 2011

Excerpts from an article by Patrick Gannon published May 13, 2011 in the Star News

David Wasserman, U.S. House editor of The Cook Political Report – a nonpartisan, online political newsletter – recently posted a sketch of the possible congressional map on his Twitter account, writing that the initial GOP plan in North Carolina "might look something like this."

The 7th Congressional District as it exists today would basically be cut in two. One new district along the coast would be strongly Republican. The other would be a minority-dominated – and largely Democratic – district inland along the South Carolina border, including McIntyre's hometown of Lumberton.

If the final outcome of North Carolina's ongoing redistricting process looks anything like that map, it's possible that most ballots in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties in the 2012 elections wouldn't include McIntyre's name.

Instead, the new configuration would concentrate Republican voters along the coast into a new 13th District, opening the door for a GOP candidate to represent the majority of the residents in the three counties.

"This map as it stands would be very favorable for a conservative candidate," said Ilario Pantano, a Wilmington Republican who plans to run for Congress again in 2012 after losing to the Lumberton Democrat McIntyre last year.

On the Republican side, Pantano, a former Marine, and Tim Wilkes, a Brunswick County resident, have announced their intentions to run for Congress in 2012. Both would live in that new 13th District. McIntyre has also said he will run again, but he could face a choice of which district to run in. Congressional candidates don't have to run in their home districts.

The GOP-leaning 13th District, according to the map, would include all of New Hanover County, except for a strong Democratic and African-American area in the downtown Wilmington area. It would include all of Brunswick County, except for the far northern sections, including Northwest. And it would include all of Pender County, except the western part.

The 13th District would also include all of Onslow County, which votes Republican, and Camp Lejeune, where Pantano was stationed twice as a Marine.